#deathless au

[surrealist-dreamer]

Me when I need a break from writing for Jason Todd: Hey why don’t we draw Jason Todd?

(Deathless au)

[rust-bearer]

Deathless AU mirrors the Sparkeater AU in that “the person you love isn’t what they seem fundamentally, but in reality they are still the same”

But deathless au focuses specifically on the hopelessness. Sparkeater is perseverance, in the end, but being unable to die? And every attempt to save someone proves almost ultimately fruitless? To be doomed to die quietly and alone on loop, always alone.

[flecks-of-stardust]

Alright. I think I should come clean a little bit about my plans now that ToMG is officially a thing. I mentioned a few things in its intro post, and I’m going to clarify them here. Very briefly, yes, Deathless is a project that has been on my mind for a while, but I actually wasn’t planning on announcing it until way, way later. I sorta forced my own hand on this lol.

TL;DR, Dreamless has a sister AU now, Deathless. Both Dreamless and Deathless are set in the same broader universe, which includes many kingdoms that have nothing to do with the setting of either AU, and the two AUs are collectively called the Godslayers universe. Dreamless is a Hollow Knight AU, while Deathless is a Bug Fables AU. I’m currently writing Dreamless, and there is no content for Deathless except what little I’ve hinted at so far.

The longer version is that Deathless was... never supposed to exist, admittedly. I was fully set on working on Dreamless and Dreamless only. I have a lot of ideas for this story; the main fic itself is set to have a minimum of 30 chapters currently, probably more, and there are also novellas after the main fic that will be posted in sequence, as well as a few non-novella length stories that I also want to write. All in all it will probably be 60+ chapters of content once I’m done, and my chapters are on average 3k to 4k words. Winter break has been a massively productive time for me and I’m excited to work more consistently on Dreamless, but depending on my availability to write as classes start up again, the posting schedule looks to be around once every three weeks to a month.

In other words, Deathless is not going to be written any time soon. I would absolutely adore writing it, but I cannot handle more than one major story at a time, and my worldbuilding on that story is still massively underdeveloped. I imagine I’m going to iron that out once I start working on the novellas, but considering it took me nine months to fully flesh out the world of Dreamless and also completely restarting the story after that, it will not be any time soon.

Now that that’s out of the way... what exactly is Deathless? The idea actually came about while I was trying to figure out the plot for a Jaune and Vi story. I’ve loved the sisters since my first playthrough, and I think canon did them both extremely dirty, so I wanted to write something that explores them more as well as the surrounding world around their being honeybees. The more I worked on it, however, the more unrelated details popped up, until I realized that I would be doing the story a gigantic disservice if I did not write it from Leif’s perspective first. And that’s where the first idea for Deathless blossomed.

Of course, I can’t really give you the plot. Not that it’s finished anyway. One thing I can share, and one thing that’s relevant to ToMG, is that I’ve heavily rebuilt Bugaria. It’s not even called Bugaria anymore; it’s now called the Four Hives kingdom cluster. It’s a mixed kingdom cluster with arboreal, terrestrial, and underground kingdoms. Aka, there is a big tree that at least one kingdom makes their home in, while a neighboring kingdom makes its home at the base of the tree, and another kingdom makes its home in the roots of the tree. In this case, the bee kingdom roosts in the crown of the tree, the ant kingdom makes its home on the ground, and the termite kingdom is underground, weaving between the root system. I have not fully decided for the wasp kingdom yet; originally I was going to make them a type of yellow jacket that makes underground nests, but since I found out about aerial yellow jackets, I’ve been reconsidering. The basic details of the kingdoms remain unchanged; the ant kingdom still hosts a wide diversity of bug species, and is also the biggest kingdom. Subsequently, it’s also the main export and import kingdom. Anything that is shipped to the Four Hives goes through the ant kingdom first, where it’s then rerouted to the other kingdoms as needed, and vice versa.

This is where the mail grubs come in. Cross-kingdom cluster mail is handled in the same way, but unlike packages and bigger shipments, mail is very lightweight, and there’s often also A Lot of it. Delivering it by hand from the ant kingdom to the other three kingdoms diverts manpower away from handling the bigger packages. So, there’s a system in place where the workers simply sort the mail into which kingdom the mail belongs to, and mail grubs come and pick up little satchels of mail and fly them to the respective kingdom. (There’s special underground tunnels for termite kingdom mail delivery.) It speeds up the delivery process a whole lot, and the mail grubs also serve as a free serotonin boost; they’re super friendly and vocal, and they work during the lighter hours of the cycle, so anyone out doing their typical business will be treated to a chorus of mail grub singing.

The Four Hives isn’t the only kingdom cluster to use mail grubs, but it’s the kingdom cluster I’ve developed the most with regards to the mail grub routes, so that’s why I opted to use it as the backdrop. I’ve also figured out a way to link it to Deathless lore, which is the other reason why I’m making this post. I had hoped to keep Deathless secret a bit longer, but oh well. I think it’s kind of obvious I’m always bursting with ideas.

Anyway, go check out the blog. I love interactive fiction and I really hope people enjoy this idea akdjfghdjk

[zu-is-here]

The Frog Princess ✧ Your Culture Day

Dream & Nightmare by jokublog

Cross from xtaleunderverse by jakei95

[prahacat]

first snow

[mylovelookup]

Modern au

[icewavex]

Finally made references for Deathless Death (Fanfic I’m working on) Dream and Killer!

[unholystarcrown]

3: Rise from the Dead.

Now also available on AO3!

This is for @/stychu-stych COTL-Tober.

Thank you for reading.

The early morning grew colder than before, not once did a raven call out to awake the sleeping cult. It was late winter; an ongoing plague had struck and only so many individuals could bear the consequences of humanity. It was only five lost. Surely, that could be taken care of. Helob has more, and so did wandering cultists that prayed to gods no longer.

But what of a lamb, only last of his kind, falls too ill to survive another day of the cold?

What would become of this young thing?

——————————

"Kallamar, you are the only one of this cult who can help him! He's been bedridden for days, cannot even sit up from his bed!"

The yells of the Reverend Mother could be heard from the west side of the cult grounds; her words clear yet heartbroken. Her only son was slipping away from her arms, a fear no mother like her wanted to face. She was scared for her boy, and only an ex-bishop was so cowardice to seek proper answers.

The shaking squid ducked deeper behind his desk, in fear of the cult leader. Had he grown a spine or three, he would have set her straight. This was still his domain, no matter if he turned away his crown or not.

"Forgive me, but with the surprising number of other cultists remain sick, your beloved son must wait!"

Yes, it was selfish of the Reverend Mother to only prioritize her only son over the cult. But he was her only child, her only family. These followers she collected up to millennia mean nothing to her. Not even the bishops she forcefully put to rest mattered.

They were never her family. That lamb is her family.

And yet in the midst of pointless arguing, the child's last breath was only a cold exhale.

——————————

"You are one mad man for you request me, her disciple, to dig out her son's body from the ground. And in winter, of all the things."

Maleficent, an eagle and one of the Reverend Mother's trusted disciples, could only watch in pure disgust of the High Priest putting the young lamb's body in a flowered coffin above a ritual pentagram. She never understood him, especially since he was the past master of the Red Crown.

Narinder, the cult's High Priest, let out a small huff at the elder eagle's complaint as he flipped through the cult's bible. Through his immortality, he worked to the top to gain something as close to a god though he would never admit to care so genuinely for the Reverend Mother.

Yet his cold heart softened when he saw that woman cry out to the world when she felt her son's cold body.

He just had to do something.

"Spare me your complaints. She wishes for her son alive; I will do just that."

Maleficent scoffed, crossing her arms. Was this cat losing his head or was he doing this out of something else? She couldn't tell by his forever scowl.

"Samael will know of this, this will be your fifth time breaking the order of all nature. It'll have your head and where will you be then?"

Narinder could only glance a glare before resuming his research. If his cowardly brother wasn't going to help, then he will. This was an opportunity for trust, something to spit in the Reverend Mother's face if she ever was chained away like he was once centuries ago.

How cruel was he to make this seem payback for betrayal a second time? He wouldn't dare answer that out loud nor in his mind. All followers knew.

But he must focus, or else that body in front of him will rot longer. And oh how he hated the smell of rotten flesh.

The sounds of bones breaking and repositioning, smell of flesh being sewn back together with blood of gods. Nothing but horrid sounds of a revival awakening.

Welcome home once more, little lamb.

[arleniansdoodles]

How much is calliope able to tell sindri of the Greek world?

So far, she hasn't really told him a lot about Greece, except that she's from Sparta, and a bit about the creation of humans in Greek mythology XDD I think Sindri's spent more time telling her stories about Midgard, specifically dwarf legends and his memories of Faye!

Speaking of, it's been a while since I shared a snippet of the fic, hasn't it? Below is a little piece of Sindri and Calliope sharing stories; for context, they're at Sindri's hideout in Svartalfheim, and Calliope's been visiting him at his forge just to chat and spend time together :D

“I thought of an old dwarf legend to tell you,” he offered. “Want to hear it?”

“Yes!” Calliope piped. “What kind of story is it?”

He smiled slightly. “It’s about the first ruler of the dwarves …”

Sindri went on to tell her about Durinn, the first dwarf ever created, and how he founded many great kingdoms and wielded the strongest of all hammers. Durinn made many manikins out of the earth, which were given life by the gods, becoming humans. Other dwarves evolved from the maggots that ate the first Giant’s flesh, and they all formed Durinn’s clan.

“Maggots!” Calliope repeated, failing to repress a shudder. “I wouldn’t want to come from a maggot!”

“Then what would you come from?” Sindri asked, amused. “Would you rather be made from the earth?”

“That’s what we say in my homeland,” Calliope said. “The first humans were made from clay. At least with clay, you can sculpt it any way you want!”

That was true. And at one point, Sindri had been just as disgusted by the maggot legend as she was.

He told her a few other stories, having thought up a very short list of all the happy ones, or at least those that didn’t end badly. Calliope hung on his every word, asking questions and poking for more details. Like, what did Durinn do in his leisure time? Did he make weapons like Sindri? Or did he build other things? And the famous alchemist Ivaldi, wasn’t he ever worried about making a mess with his experiments? Did he ever take a break? If his sons were always helping him, maybe that was their idea of family time!

Her chattering drudged up memories of the past – Atreus, around Calliope’s height, pestering Sindri with questions of dwarven history. Sindri saw him in his mind’s eye, perched on the edge of the worktable, idly swinging his feet.

I really wanna see Svartalfheim someday, Atreus chattered on. If its tower ever opens up, will you show me around? I wanna meet all the dwarves and learn their stories!

Sindri shook himself. That time was long past. Atreus finally got around to seeing Svartalfheim, though Sindri wasn’t able to give him a tour. Even if he could, there wasn’t much to show, or many dwarves to meet, given how they’d all shunned him at the time.

Then again … Maybe Calliope wouldn’t mind seeing more of Svartalfheim. She certainly seemed interested in Niðavellir, far below the mountain they stood on. One day, perhaps, Sindri could show her around there.

Calliope eventually grew bored of engraving practice and helped Sindri around the forge instead. Once he finished his current project (a very sturdy shield), she offered to sing the Thrymskviða for him.

Calliope’s music was an entirely different experience from listening to dwarf music. Hel, Sindri was tempted to put it on Faye’s level, and he considered Faye’s voice to be high art in itself. Calliope’s voice was pure and clear, like water from a mountain spring, or the snow glistening on Midgard’s peaks. Her magic lay just beneath the surface, waiting to be used, but she didn’t need it; the story of the Thrymskviða unfolded in his mind like painted murals moving on wooden panels. He saw King Thrym stealing Mjölnir while Thor slept, followed by Thor’s rage, and the Aesir’s meeting to discuss solutions … And the song ended.

Sindri blinked, coming out of his daze. “There’s more, isn’t there?”

“Yes, but I haven’t practiced the next verses as much,” Calliope said, embarrassed. “I didn’t want to mess them up here.”

“Even if you did, I’m sure you’d still sound great. You, uh, you really have a voice.”

Calliope’s cheeks flushed red. “Thank you.”

[whitestgray]

I made CORE in Gacha Life 2! As you can see, I capitalize everything CORE says, and it is agender and goes by it/its pronouns.

Also, around time of existence, CORE was about 6 years old. It fell into the Core, and was erased from existence. However, only it’s SOUL was erased, making CORE soulless. It’s soullessness is different than Ink’s, obviously. CORE still feels emotions, but does not have a physical manifestation, meaning it cannot be touched.

CORE is about as old as Quetzalcoatl. (Who came before the gods and is the oldest Guardian.)

[a-koschyei]

me, fully losing my mind writing up this winter trilogy verse (major spoilers ahead):

[doodling-doodle]

A Modern Great War (PT. 13)

They were searching. They needed to find Kyle before it was too late.

Alex was panicking. He needed to get Kyle, he couldn't let this happen, he had to save him, he needed him, Rose needed him, they all needed him.

Maxis took him away from him.

Maxis took him away from him.

Maxis took him away from him.

It had been twenty-four hours since Maxis took Kyle. They were all just hoping that he’d open a portal and come back. Alex could hear the voice that he loved again.

In the meantime, they were at a safehouse. Using what they had to see if they could find anything regarding either Maxis, Kyle, or Kortifex. 

Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

He was going to lose Kyle.

"Alex?"

He looked up at Graves, then back down at the computer. Kyle's tracker was coming in and out, and he was trying to keep an eye on it.

"You can't stay up all night watching that."

"We have a day left before Kyle is gone, I can't do that to him and I can't do that to Rose. I need to find him before it's too late."

He sat next to him, looking at the screen.

"He- he's in Germany. Maxis has him in Germany, we'll never get there in time."

"All we can do is hope he snaps out of it and gets here."

He just kept an eye on it. Twenty-four turned to thirty-four. He just wanted his Kyle back.

“Please, Kyle… Come back…”

They weren’t getting him back.

Maybe they could…

A portal opened.

They all went through it to see…

“What the fuck is this place?” He whispered.

“Welcome to the Wilds, Seedlings.”

“What the fuck?!” Price yelled.

“Relax. I am Vercanna the Last. I am helping Sergeant Garrick.”

“Why didn’t you just take us to him?!” Alex yelled.

“Don’t worry. Things will make sense soon.”

They were left alone in “The Wilds”.

Then Kortifex showed up,

“Welcome to the Dark Aether, Red Bloods.”

They didn’t have the saving grace that they did last time.

But, still, a purple Rune Wall sheilded them.

And a young woman appeared out of smoke. 

“Maxis…”

Her. The fucking person that took his Kyle from him.

“Did you miss seeing me like this?”

“I never missed you at all. Where’s your ‘pawn’?”

She smiled as small explosions happened behind her.

Then, his worst nightmare happened.

Kyle appeared out of a portal. Yellow eyes. He looked… empty. Hollow. 

Maxis took his Kyle.

He couldn't save him.

"We were too late…"

[rust-bearer]

First Aid Deathless AU aka angel au. The specific thought that prompted this was. Overlord’s death count in his rampage. Surely First Aid would have been tending to people as they fell. He wouldn’t have just hid like Ratchet told him too (Ambulon hadn’t, either.)

Now imagine he just. Dies too. He is rushing down the hall and comes across Overlord in the overmosh pit. One badly placed swing. One ill timed step. First Aid flies back, hits something, impales himself. Dies.

No one notices. By the time they do, he’s alive again. What a miracle that he’s fine, they all say. Wounded, but alive.

He doesn’t tell them.

[zu-is-here]

finally, a truly deserved curse

[plaguethewaters]

actually changed my mind the phistin dlc goes on the post itself now.

@thetiredyuk i am having more Thoughts about that one - ranboo is the sone of death beeduo au. I was about to just send you an ask but also this is almost 2k words so it may be better off as a post lmfao

So like. bullet points time, this is an approximate summary of what i think the Plot would be like - wordbuilding aside

(Temporary mcd, suicide warning)

Year like, 1500 something (to be more well researched but i do want it to be like. something something renaissance. it works) we've got two poor ass kids born of the same year. Except tommy is pretty much a normal guy, liked by his family and such. His parents have enough children they can gamble for at least one to be successfull, so they send him to be a painter's apprentice in the hope he'll make some kind of money. There, in the slighter bigger town thats almost a city but not quite, he meets tubbo. Now Tubbo would have been a normal guy, except he was born with facial deformities so now everyone thinks he's a demonic freak hated by the gods (this renaissance world is politheistic bc kristin needs to be there and also i wil not do christianity if i dont have to lmao.)

Tommy is not intimidated by any gods. obviously. also his dad is really into the goddess of death and he prays enough for both of them, so he's like. protected and shite. And he immidiately hits it off with the cursed boy

surprise hes not actually cursed but people are dicks anyways. Tommy makes him a fancy mask to cover his face - even thought its totally cool as shit, but its cool enough only tommy should ever get to see it - and that eventually does help him. Because tubbo wasnt like, a shit guy. Hes a damn good builder and knows how to read, which are talents big enough that the costruction workers for that church out of town are ready to ignore the whole probably cursed thing. As long as he as the masks.

Tommy: makes him the first genuine gift hes ever received in fifteen years of life Tubbo: never takes it off again. like never Tommy: shocked pikachu face

anyways so tommy dies like. super young. They have their fun for a few years but at like seventeen tommy is called to be the artist for this very fancy duke of the town over - and at the start they'r super happy bc that means Money and Food and Roof over your head and shite. its a very good fucking deal.

except the noble is a bastard. His town revolts against him, and when they storm the castle they aren't exactly asking names or faces: tommy gets immidiately like, super destroyed by the crowd, and dies a few minutes later.

Tubbo hears of this like five months later bc its the fifteen hunderds and hes poor.

He does Not take it very well ngl

He goes a bit murdery - basically hes like "im not living without tommy, might as well burn down a village while im at it right, right."

Now ranboo, in all of this, freshly the equivalent of seventeen for an immortal death being, is starting on their training to actually become death- His mom send him on a quaint little village in europe thinking "hey, the most those guys die of is like. malaria. consumption maybe. itll be easy as hell"

And now like two hundred different souls are around him with FIRE written on their foreheads and Ranboo feels distinctly outside of his range, to be really honest.

he steps a couple ethereak planes down just to see what the heck is the matter - if this is another of those voide beings his mom will be Super Pissed and they want to see that reaction

And it isnt the void people

Instead, in front of their eyes, the singular most beautiful person hes ever seen - and hes seen lots, in this line of work.

He cant see their face, but their actions speak enough. The sheer rage, the almost dance like movement of their body perfectly framed by the light of their torch, seeing no humanity or mercy in whatever their searching for. their hair look angelic in its softness, burnt by the worst flames of hell and yet tended by the same hands who wield it - strong hands, clearly forged by hard work and dedication. This is a guy who has nothing to lose, and there's little Death loves most than someone who doesnt fear it.

He has to go down, has to speak to them immidiately.

So he does.

There's really no time - his mom had given the singular rule not to interact with humans, shell be on them in Seconds- but one question can be asked in the haste: "What brings a mortal to do this?"

"It's all for you, love!" the mortal says. They also say some other things, after, but Ranboo is not very well versed in the human tongue and they are speaking Very Loudly.

(Tubbo actually said "Fuck you, you motherfucker it's Your Fault, you took every single thing i love". Easy mistake, if one thinks about it.)

Their mom is Pretty Pissed but she does undesrtand stupid things done for young love. So she's like "eh, ive loved mortals too. go have fun" and everything

Except a year passes, and ranboo still hasnt even spoken to the guy, and she remembers suddenly Mortality Exists.

Shes never had them take a soul who died naturally - for lack of occasion, mostly - and they may have been. a tad sheltered. They most definitely do Not know what death actually is like for humans, nor how long does it take for them to die

she wonders if it would be a tad overprotective to take this over for them

she thinks about seventy years in the future, at most, when the boy dies. She thinks that her son cannot cry but can definitely cry. she thinks of their screams of sadness ringing through her ears-

Tubbo wakes up in the river, alive.

He did not Intend to be alive, and it's actually quite unfortunate for him to be so.The survivors are quite angry and probably close to him, now. Welp, no way to die is reallt any worse than another, he thinks. Ill just wait here for them.

When the pitchfork collapses his heart and he continues breathing, he understands something might be a little bit wrong.

And like, a good five hundred years pass like this.

Things Tubbo has learned in his five hundred, twenty three and two halves years on this demon forsaken earth:

Clothes get so much shittier over time. he has One (1) tailored shit from the 1800 and Nothing has even barely compared to it ever since.

getting stabbed does not hurt less just because youre not actually dying. Poisoning is actiively way worse since you're not actually dying. Diving off cliffs is Not Fun. In general, try not to do dying things even if youre immortal

theres a hole in his heart where his loved ones were and it will never get filled

Food gets esponentially better over time. Lord bless whoever decided curry should go on chicken because they were Cooking For Real. Chocolate was still better before though.

Working for soulles bosses has not changed At All in all of this time tho.

he works at mcdonalds because no college would accept his non existant resume, and being immortal dosent deprive him of his needs unfortunately. The manager took one look at this kid dressed from like three different centuries with a goat mask on his head and was like. why not. at least youre not a stoner and you know how to read.

His coworkers firmly believe hes a criptid and have a full going investigation to prove it. The highest bet at fifty dollars says hes mothman in disguise, there to eat the fliest that live on their shitty food. The lowest bets hes an angel waiting for the right time to brign down armageddon.

Every night he goes in the woods to an almost forgotten Death altar and he prays. Half of his prayers consist of insults and the other half are pleas for her to fucking kill him already

This does not help the criptid chronicles

Kristin also has like. only so much patience. Hes holding up the prayers line - which is actually still pretty fucking used in central asia - and hes generally annoying as shit.

She takes ranboo by the scruff, gives them a passable human form, and throws them down there. Get your shit together boy youre like a thousand years old. Get your man (to stop fucking with the phoneline)

Ranboo is Not Enthusiastic about this but cmon. Hes death. How hard can working at a mac really be?

Spoiler it is

Spoiler it does Not matter, because awkwardness aside ranboo is funny, and easy to talk to, and compassionate and caring. He doesnt want to kill tubbo, he doesnt look at him like hes a fictional creature (and yes marcie, hes seen the bet table), he isnt his soulless boss. Tubbo is grieving but he also very desperstely wants a friend.

One day someone stops at his shitty apartment at like three am

Ranboo stands in fron of his door drenched from head to toe, holding the possibly smallest kitten tubbo has ever seen in his Life. Hes miserable but the cat is miracoulously dry, screaming their head off - and ranboo is panicking. Are they okay are they dying? Do you have any food i dont know what he eats but its so small and i didnt know where else to go- please i dont want it to die or something and-

The moon shines on their long, wet hair and their stupid fucking suit is as wrinkled as ever. They look like they desperately want to rub their hands against each other but there is a kitten in the way and it probably makes them even more anxious - theres very little messes bigger than him, right now.

Tubbo falls in love.

They heal the kitten and keep enderchest in their now shared apartment.

They grow closer, and closer, and something is forming. Ranboo is aware a relationship cannot be based on lies, as much as it worries him how tubbo will react.

so he prepares like a romantic ass evening

roses and candles and a nice dinner with a fancy wine

tubbo almost gets flustered

except at the end of the night the confession isnt "i love you" but "im the guy who took away your only ffamily".

and he sees Red.

Ranboo doesnt remember what tubbo screamed, not exactly. He remembers grief, and crying, and feeling worse than he ever believed he could. He remembers the endless guilt sitting in his chest, and the slam of a door - maybe from the inside out. Hes definitely outside, now, and the house ifìs far away enough eh cant see it, but that could also be the tears.

His mother finds him crouched in a patch of grass, tears steaming down their cheeks in a constant flow. Shes not aware if they'd returned to death form to feel safer, or because they believed they deserved the burn. Shes not sure what option makes her feel worse.

shes aware that this is. pretty much her fault

TO HER DEFENSE she was not really aware humans were so touchy about death. The souls she reaps arent very talkative and the guy shes with is chill about it so like. maybe this one is weird

(the guy she's with is Phil, whos Decidly not a human but has also decided not to tell her yet. For the bit, yknow? He's been a live a couple thousand years, it would be awkward to drop it now. He's also somewhat a serial killer and Not Normal about death At All)

BUt this is still here fault and she does have to set it right a little bit

So she summons Tubbo to her persnoal room in the palace and goes like. "oi. why r u so mad little guy"

And hes like: you took away the single person whos ever loved me ever

"Wait that's the only problem?"

"What the fuck else would it be"

"thought u were mad at him cause he lied lol"

"LYING IS NOT WORSE THAN KILLING A GUY"

Anyways Kristen is so relieved rn. She thought tubbo was phisically like, repulsed by the concept of death and all, and he was mad that Ranboo lied to him and all. Which he is, but the rage is so so much less than the grief yknoe. And she knows how to fix it if its just one (1) measly soul

Tommy is so fucking confused

Th modern world is full of sounds and weird textures and the food is fucking fantastic but also Too Much, and Tubbo introduced him to this weird ass potion hed called a bong and now hes seeing gods the likes of which had never been discoveres

Over all hes just happy to be alive and with his best friend

He kinda hates ranboo. The fucker threw a scyte at him for no reason when tommy would have Almost Certainly survived because he is simply That Cool. Ranboo didn't believe in his awesomeness enough and is thus a Bitch

Tubbo is. iffy

He cant deny he has a teensy tiny crush now, because hes far too deep in this for that

But also ranboo did like. lie straight to his face

but also tubbo would Not have believed him if a random guy showed up at three am at a mcdonalds saying they were the child of death

and he Did trust that what he saw in ranboo was real, betrayal aside. No one fakes looking That much like a wet cat

so it does take a while. couple years in fact, to get back at the level of trust they had before (inster a cool anime montage where they have lots of fun together as roommates and cats coparents and all)

One night when they are - not back together, because they hadnt been dating before, but back to that almost definitely dating just not officialized stage- ranboo asks him if would ever want to be mortal again.

And tubbo thinks of it. His time on earth had been so plagued by grief hed never really ecperienced anything it had to offer. Hed never seen the sights or did anything at all besides praying for death, and thats kind of a shitty way to pass five hundred years

'But tubbo what about your humanity? wouldnt it be irrevocabily lost by giving awau something so fundamentally human as death" someone would ask. And tubbo would anser "ehh who cares"

He hasnt been fully human since hes burned that whole village down, anyway. And he likes the benefits of this life more than whateer moral superiority a Normal human would have over him

just-

"and tommy too, obviously. I get the feeling you dont like him dead" Ranboo jokes.

There's no decision at all then. Fuck yeah, immortal boyfriend and immortal brother what more could a fucker want.

They get to cause chaos on earth and probably kill a bunch of rich people for a long long time

the end :)

Im like. very tentatively calling this Deathless Death, in the vane hope that i will write something for this better thant bullet points. But for now bullet points it is

[adventures-in-mangaland]

Even More Dead Boy Detectives Fic Recs

I've discovered some amazing new authors since my last post! And writers I've already recced have published more great stories So here's another fic rec post!

Who? You mean your teammate in the Codependency World Cup? (series) by RoseGanymede95

I couldn't chose! They're all great! Basically a series of Edwin and Charles through the years and on cases pre-show. It scratches that adjusting-to-being-dead/newly-escaped-from-Hell itch and the authors writing is magic! It also fleshes out a really interesting conflict in the payneland dynamic: Charles' drive to protect Edwin at all costs clashing with Edwin's guilt over putting Charles at risk/depriving him of some ideal afterlife. Parts one and four also introduces Constantine/Johanna and part three revolves around an absolutely gut-wrenching temporary break-up. 😢

In Hell I'll Be in Good Company by laylabinx

Charles rescuing Edwin from Hell does not go smoothly. Just. Bucketloads of Trauma for both of them. And for you, the Reader. It's so good though!

your fangs in my neck (like an anchor like a vow) by shadowquill17

Vampire Edwin AU! It's great because it combines the (homo)eroticism of vampiric feeding with Charles' whole bisexual crisis and post-confession Edwin worrying about making Charles uncomfortable. Also Charles is some kind of demigod/immortal agent of divine vengeance which is an AMAZING detail and I desperately want to see some fanart!

The same author's ongoing story to the pain is also excellent though very angsty (cw temporary character death). I'm anxiously waiting for an update!

To Memory Now I Can't Recall by engineering_madonna

This is an amnesia fic and the most recent in an established relationship series. The first two installments feature the boys getting together and navigating their new relationship, so pulling the old 'character A forgets their whole romantic relationship with character B' trope hits especially hard! The whole series is lovely, but I am WEAK for temporary-amnesia.

Lemonade & Sunrises by paraph

A Quiet Place AU! The boys are alive, but they're the only ones. Very bleak but in a way that makes me want more!

1999 au (series) by websters_lieb

The boys figure their shit out in the 90s. Also, Edwin gets to read Maurice and queer theory. The cases in both stories are compelling and the author's writing and characterisation of the boys are excellent.

I also recommend offer me that deathless death which is about the boys' first meeting, Charles' funeral and the birth of the agency.

if I could reach the stars (i'd give them all to you) by ObsessedWithFandom

Charles falls first, Edwin falls harder. This is an AU of the author's excellent Charles' bisexual awakening fic, which I also highly recommend. It has lovely OCs and Charles having a sweet little friendship/romance with the boy he saved in canon, which actually makes his death a whole lot more tragic.

Came up from that lake of fire by ghostinthelibrary

Charles and Edwin get caught escaping Hell and promise to capture a demon-eating ghost called The Deathless in exchange for their freedom. With the added twist that they get to be alive again! An exciting case, high stakes and all the alive-again culture shocks and emotional/interpersonal drama you could ask for.

gig officially gigged by laiqualaurelote

Band AU! It shouldn't work but it does. Which might also be an in-universe review for the band tbh. Idk, I loved Edwin's massive obscure musical instruments and Charles being his unpaid roadie. Peak Found Family Feels.

No Rehearsing It, No Reversing It by DontOffendTheBees

Charles overthinks being in love with Edwin, my beloved. This time with increasingly flimsy pretexts for why they NEED to kiss. Just perfect Idiots in Love, no notes.

The Case of David Bowie's Made up Sexuality by williamvapespeare

The agency attempt to help a living lesbian couple deal with a haunting. Meanwhile, Charles struggles through his bisexual (re)awakening. With bonus past (living) Charles no-homo-ing himself to the nth degree. Pure of heart, dumb of ass, indeed.

The lamps are going out by CasiHuman

Vengeful Spirit Edwin AU! Has some interesting ghost lore and Edwin being convinced his touch is painful to Charles (love that trope!). Also features some of the author's adorable/hilarious fanart at the end.

just frame the halves (and call them brothers) by Anonymous

Crystal stumbles upon the ghost of Edwin's older brother, who hires the agency to free him and his platoon from the battleground they've been haunting. Case fic with interesting details about Edwin's family life and an awkward as hell family reunion.

the case of the very long ferry ride by obsceme

Sex pollen but with skin hunger, so it's more touching turned making out and hand jobs in a bathroom. Interesting use of ghost lore and it's cute and well written.

Form 239, Schedule L by sanctuary_for_all

Charles Rowland's Love Language is Acts of Service: The Fic. So many feels! Plus Afterlife worldbuilding and some quality Night Nurse rep.

don't go sharing your devotions (lay all your love on me) by Hephanna

The boys and Crystal accidentally summon an alternate universe version of Charles. He's very... handsy. Charles being jealous of himself is objectively hilarious and it looks like it could be heading towards throuple territory. Possibly even a foursome, if alternate Edwin figures out parallel universe travel. Which he probably will.

Still a Better Lovestory by Vamillepudding

Hanahaki disease! Charles is on the case but Edwin's being weirdly uncooperative about his own curse. I loved the worldbuilding (there's a whole sisterhood of washerwomen!) and the angst, plus the writing is excellent.

The author has also written Eternal Sunshine, in which Edwin is cursed to feel no love of any kind. It makes for an interesting character study, contrasting cursed Edwin, his public reserve and his actual personality.